The Earth has been invaded by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilized, yet ruthless alien race. Humanity has been conquered, but still it fights the invaders. The Resistance grows stronger, for it is the young people of Earth who are best equipped to battle the Illyri.

Syl Hellais, conceived among the stars, is the oldest alien child on Earth, the first to reach sixteen years of age. Her father rules the planet. Her future is assured. And Syl has hidden gifts, powers that even she does yet fully understand.

But all is not as it seems. The Illyri are at war among themselves, and the sinister Nairene Sisterhood has arrived on Earth, hungry for new blood. When Syl helps a pair of young Resistance fighters to escape execution, she finds herself sentenced to death, pursued by her own kind, and risks breaking the greatest taboo of her race by falling in love with a human.

Now the hunter has become the hunted, the predator become prey.

And as Syl is about to learn, the real invasion has not yet even begun…

Listened for Review (Random House Audio) Overall Rating: DNF

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: I gave Conquest by John Connolly 7 hours but I just couldn’t get into the story. It took forever for things to start happening and even at my stopping point only one major thing had happened 🙁

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.

Read from April 17 to 19, 2014 Listened for Fun (Library) Overall Rating: DNFAudio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: I could see a bit of a triangle happening and I wasn’t drawn into the characters. I did find the world fascinating and the writing strong! The audio was done really well!

A woman has vanished while digging a dinosaur bone bed in the remote wilderness of Canada. Somehow, the only evidence has made its way to the inbox of Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, over two thousand miles away in Boston. She has no idea why. But as events unfold with alarming speed, Scarpetta begins to suspect that the paleontologist’s disappearance is connected to a series of crimes much closer to home: a gruesome murder, inexplicable tortures, and trace evidence from the last living creatures of the dinosaur age.

When she turns to those around her, Scarpetta finds that the danger and suspicion have penetrated even her closest circles. Her niece Lucy speaks in riddles. Her lead investigator, Pete Marino, and FBI forensic psychologist and husband, Benton Wesley, have secrets of their own. Feeling alone and betrayed, Scarpetta is tempted by someone from her past as she tracks a killer both cunning and cruel.

This is Kay Scarpetta as you have never seen her before. The Bone Bed is a must read for any fan of this series, or an ideal starting point for new readers.

Read on March 16, 2014

Listened for Fun (Library)
Overall Rating: DNF

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: Gave it an hour and half–DNF: I am sad this series has gotten so angsty (especially when all the characters are way above the age of that type of angst!

I do love these books on audio though. The earlier ones were excellent!

The year is 2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID—the most brutal controlling police force in history—rule supreme. No throwaway comment or whispered dissent goes unnoticed—or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a horrendous crime she struggles to remember. But Jenna’s violent prison time has taught her how to survive by any means necessary.

When a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed, and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID, and try to uncover the truth about what really happened on that terrible night two years ago. They have taken her life, her freedom, and her true memories away from her. How can she reclaim anything when she doesn’t know who to trust?

Narrators were fantastic but after 2 hours I was not drawn into the story. YA is not my normal read so please go look at other people’s reviews.

Partials

Written by: Dan Wells
Series: Partials, Book 1

For fans of The Hunger Games, Battlestar Galactica, and Blade Runner comes the first book in the Partials Sequence, a fast-paced, action-packed, and riveting sci-fi teen series, by acclaimed author Dan Wells.

Humanity is all but extinguished after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island. But sixteen-year-old Kira is determined to find a solution. As she tries desperately to save what is left of her race, she discovers that that the survival of both humans and Partials rests in her attempts to answer questions about the war’s origin that she never knew to ask.

Playing on our curiosity of and fascination with the complete collapse of civilization, Partials is, at its heart, a story of survival, one that explores the individual narratives and complex relationships of those left behind, both humans and Partials alike—and of the way in which the concept of what is right and wrong in this world is greatly dependent on one’s own point of view.

Supports the Common Core State Standards

Read for Fun (Library)
Overall Rating: DNF

DNF for me and this is just for tracking purposes. Wasn’t bad it just never drew me in. I gave it 100 pages but just didn’t feel like it was a good match for me. I won’t count it towards my 25 YA in the year count.

I borrowed this book from the library.

This is one I should have tried on audio, it might have worked better.

The author of the internationally best-selling Harry Hole series now gives us an electrifying stand-alone novel set amid Oslo’s hierarchy of corruption, from which one very unusual young man is about to propel himself into a mission of brutal revenge.

Sonny Lofthus, in his early thirties, has been in prison for the last dozen years: serving time for crimes he didn’t commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin—and the unexpected stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his uncanny abilities to soothe and absolve. His addiction started when his father committed suicide rather than be exposed as a corrupt cop, and now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest—all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed, and all of them under the thumb of Oslo’s crime overlord, the Twin. When Sonny learns some long-hidden truths about his father he makes a brilliant escape, and begins hunting down the people responsible for the hideous crimes he’s paid for. But he’s also being hunted, by the Twin, the cops, and the only person who knows the ultimate truth that Sonny is seeking. The question is, what will he do when they’ve cornered him?

Listened for Review (Random House Audio)
Overall Rating: DNF

Audio Rating: 2.50 (not part of the overall rating)

I listened to 9 hours of this audiobook and just could not get into the characters at all. That would have been fine but I didn’t enjoy the story either. This might have been a case of the audio not being compelling enough but overall this just did not work for me.

I am in the minority (from what I have seen) and so if you are a thriller reader please give it a whirl. Sometimes the reader and the book just don’t mess.

Felicia is just your average gal from Texas that loves Audiobooks and Libraries with a passion! She can wine them, dine them, and love them forever. Her eclectic reading tastes include: Cozy Mysteries, Thrillers, Swoon-Worthy Romance of all kinds, Zombies, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and the occasional YA read.

During her non-reading time you can find her hanging with her rescue furr children named after book characters: Lizzie a beautiful cattle dog mix (Pound Pup), Cinder a beautiful Shep/Pitt mix (Pound Pup), and Minerva a beautiful Shep/Pitt mix (Foster Fail). Gathering with friends and family, attending conventions, watching movies/tv shows, rooting for the 49rs, and crocheting.

If you want to follow her DIY, Health, and Life adventures check out Mess to Best

Interesting about Coldest Girl In Coldtown Felicia! I’ve seen a wide variety of reviews for it which is why I haven’t picked it up yet. I’m trying to lower my expectations a bit because I do so enjoy Holly Black and I don’t want to be disappointed. I’m hoping that triangle you felt coming on doesn’t ever develop into anything!

Right in the gut, Felicia! This makes me so sad. I had (have?) such high hopes for: The Coldest Girl in Cold Town, Acid, AND Partials. Since you admit to not being much of a YA person, I won’t totally write these off, but on the genres we have in common, we generally agree . . . Maybe I’ll do the library thing for these (NOVEL idea, LOL). Thanks for the warning though 😉

I think you would like them! My problem with Coldest Girl is that it felt like a triangle was coming on and that is my number 1 issue with books (mostly YA though UF is a close 2nd). Partials was more me. I think the story was there but I was just not connecting to it.

Good to know you liked that narration of Coldest Girl! I purchased that one on audio and have it waiting in the queue. I think I probably should start DNF-ing audiobooks more since they take so much more time than physical books for me and if I don’t like them they can drag over months as I listen to music instead of the book >.>. I’ve been in such an audiobook slump lately though, so I don’t know if it is even any of the books’ fault!

Oh the narrator rocked! I put CL on my to listen list. That is the thing with audiobooks (good and bad) they make me pay a lot more attention to the story but it also makes me “put up or shut up” for books 🙂

This is so helpful! I always like to know why readers/listeners DNF. I definitely get what you mean about Coldest Girl. The narration and writing were strong, but there was just something that kept me from loving it too. You certainly gave these books a fair shake! I never know at what point to just throw in the towel.

Yep with that one particular, I kept trying to love it (I think the story was there) but I just never ever felt anything for the characters. Since YA is already not my overall thing, I just can’t do without that.

I do hate to DNF books but…it has to be done sometimes. Definitely agree about the angstyness of Cornwell. I’m so sad about that, too, because I loved the beginning books in that series. And Acid had such promise but it fell flat. Boring characters doing nothing but running circles. No thanks. *sigh*

I’m not a fan of YA either, so I feel your pain there. I agree with you though, if a book isn’t good or don’t click with you, quit. There are entirely too many good books out there to waste time on ones you don’t enjoy.

Some of these definitely would be dnfs as well (although I did enjoy Partials- I much, much, much prefer Dan Well’s adult series that starts with I Am Not a Serial Killer). Coldest Girl in Coldtown is on my tbr shelves, so I probably will get to it sooner or later, although I am more of a YA fan then you. But I’m glad the audio version is good, that might help me get it off my shelves. 😉

I think if I would have tried Partials on audio I might have finished it. I think the action was about to start. I have I Am Not a Serial Killer so I will have to try that. I think most people like Coldest Girl. I really like the darkness and gothic feel of the story. I just didn’t like the characters. The audio was freaking fantastic!

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Just a Note:

I am not a professional reviewer. In fact all I am is an opinionated reader. I give my POV about the books I choose to read. Most books I love (that happens when you choose what you read) but occasionally one lets me down. It is never personal (towards the author, publishing house, or editor)–it is just my personal reading experience. So please read all my reviews with that in mind.

Thanks-

Felicia the Geeky Blogger

About Me

I am just your average gal from Texas that loves Audiobooks and Libraries with a passion! I can wine them, dine them, and love them forever. My eclectic reading tastes include: Cozy Mysteries, Thrillers, Swoon-Worthy Romance of all kinds, Zombies, Urban Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and the occasional YA read. I'm an avid dog lover that works with rescues and transports.

About Donna

I'm a tax preparer who loves to read. I've been reading historical romance and history for a very long time. Thanks to my Mom for handing down her Victoria Holt, Mary Stuart, et al when I was in junior high and my Dad who bought me any book I wanted. He believed along with the James Bond, I'd read the classics too. But the biggest thanks goes to my elementary school librarian who made sure we all had something we'd enjoy to read. For me, she picked Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada and Mary, Queen of Scots. Hooked me for life!

I never knew reviews were so important until I was "dragged" onto Facebook and found many friends who feel like I do about books. Now, I post my reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes& Noble and sometimes NetGalley. With thanks to Felicia, I get to post my reviews on the Geeky Blogger.